Fateliny
by Revenant Phantasma
Summary: Even with all these differences, the one that stood out most to me was their eyes. No, I don’t mean the fact that they were so vibrantly blue, but the fact that their eyes seemed to hold so much hatred and disgust.. Nothing to take seriously..


I remember that day vividly. The sun had been shining brightly on our little village and every plant, flower, hilltop, and person seemed to glow with the heat of the sun's rays. Now that I think back, I believe God enhanced my vision for that one day because it would be my last time seeing such a sight for quite some time. At that time, of course, I believed everything held such a heavenly glow because it had been the day of my birth. I was turning 13, simply 13, my first year as a real teenager.

That morning my mother came for me bright and early. She took me to her mother, my grandmother, to prepare for the traditional ceremony of our village for your first year as a teen.

You see, the place I come from is called the Zenith tribe, and on the day you can properly be called a teenager a ceremony called Grinke is performed within your family. Grinke is a big event for the one coming of age. In Grinke, the person that the ceremony is to be held for is taken to the past two generations of their family that is of their gender. So if it were a girl, her mother and grandmother. If it were a boy, his father and grandfather. Do not get confused, everyone in your family is to attend the actual ceremony, your last two generations simply prepare you for it.

So, on that day my grandmother and my mother brought to me the most amazingly beautiful dress I had ever seen. The dress was a deep red with intricate black broidery along the waistline and sleeves. They helped me into my dress and pulled my hair into an elegant bun, adding equally beautiful little trinkets and pins along the way. After they were done with my hair they began to apply make-up, spreading faint blush to my cheeks, paint to my lips, and mascara to my eyes.

We were in the process of putting on my shoes, which had also matched my dress mind you, when I heard possibly the most horrid sound I had ever heard in my life. One of my fellow villagers was screaming. I recognized the scream to be of one of my friends who had yet to become an official teenager. Then, I had wondered what could be happening to interrupt my Grinke. Now, I cry for my friend's missed chances.

We stepped outside of the house to investigate the scream. I remember that my first sight, after taking my first step outside, had been of one of my many friends on the receiving end of a strange man's strike. Almost instantaneously, I was shoved to the ground along with my mother and grandmother. I screamed just as loudly as my friend had, maybe even louder. I twisted and struggled in my captors grasp, trying and trying to get away. I was answered with a slap to my face and a chain to my arms. I was violently hoisted up and thrust towards my just as restricted mother and grandmother. I remember worrying so bad about my other family members that its was hard to walk, but these strangers would have none of that. When I stopped, I was either one of two things hauled by my chains so hard until they chafed or kicked from behind to keep the pace. At what point I had started crying I don't know, but I could see I was not the only one.

We were led to the shore, where there appeared to be even more who had also been so brutally taken and chained. Our captors had unfamiliar feature. Their skin was pale and pasty compared to our darker brown skin, their noses so much longer and straighter compared to our short big ones. Our alien kidnappers also wore puffy beards and slicked hair, not at all like the smooth faces and nappy hair of my own people. Even with all these differences, the one that stood out most to me was their eyes. No, I don't mean the fact that they were so vibrantly blue, but the fact that their eyes seemed to hold so much hatred and disgust. I remember wondering why such gazes were directed at us. Why, if they thought us disgusting, would they come here just to take us from our home? Yet, I also remember thinking just how much I wanted so badly for all of the strangers to just die and let us be.

We had stood by the shore for a little over 30 minutes before we were again herded, like cattle, onto their ship, but before they let us onto the ship they stripped of our clothing. My beautiful dress was flung to the ground like a common rag. I found out later that to them that is what my dress was, a rag.

I wondered how we were all going to fit so many people on such a ship. I now wish I had never even thought of the question. We were packed, literally packed, into the ship like luggage unto a cart. If the person next to you was laying one way then you were to lay the other. Most of my people protested, they were answered with an incomprehensible gibberish and a whip to their body. I quickly learned that my captors were not ones to mess with.

With my horribly vivid memory, I remember feeling someone relieve himself or herself on me. Of course, I was in no position to be mad because fear prevented me from moving to, but I was mad at the people who put me into the position in the first place. I later found that this was something that was unavoidable, even with the little food and water they give us. I also remember having to stand on the deck with my fellow people, and being forced to watch these pale strangers beat one of my people. I would wince when every lash was given and squeeze my eyes shut when the whip would dig far into the persons back. I think the pale strangers got their point across, because I had to be the most well behaved person there. I ate what little they gave me and did not complain when I was shoved. I might be able to do all of this, but, the day I had to watch as my mother and my grandmother were chained down and thrown into the sea, I revolted every little thing about the pale strangers, not physically, of course, but mentally. I was mad not stupid I had spent enough time with these people to know that it was a death wish to provoke one of them. We eventually reached a shore to a place that was unknown to me then. I found later that we were on the state of Georgia. Once there we were moved from the bottom of the ship to the deck, where we were drenched with a water hose. The leader of the pale strangers took hold of our chain and moved us into an arena looking building where there were people looking down on us. I guess we had been given to the custody of someone else because there was a new pale stranger that had taken us to a fancy looking cart. As we walked, I took the time to look around. I realized that we could be nowhere near my home, not just because the ship took about a week to arrive but also because aside from the tree every now and then the was little to no plant life. At my home, everywhere you looked had been teeming with plant and wildlife alike. Here the only wildlife I saw were the horses pulling the carriage, the birds in the sky, and the marine animals we saw in the sea on the way here.

After about 40 minutes of walking, we reached our destination. In front of me had to be the biggest building I had ever seen, not including the arena like building we had just come from. We were stopped outside of the gate that was lining the property, and lined up in a neat row. I remember wondering why we were to line up. As the thought left my mind, a girl about my age walked through the gates and began down the row on the side starting farthest from me. I remember seeing a smile cross her face as she saw me. She had yelled something in that gibberish to the one we had been given new custody to. Soon after, I was pulled out of the line and thrown into the arms of another stranger. I do not really remember much after that. I just remember waking up the next day in a cot beside the bed of the girl who had smiled at me yesterday. I also remember that as I tried to move I would hear the clinking of the chains that had been on my legs and neck. Apparently, they were allowing me free movement with my arms. I found out why later in the day when I was yelled at in that gibberish to get something for the girl. That was the beginning of my time with the girl, who I later found out to be Emily, and the pale strangers, who I later found to be Caucasians.

It took me nearly one year to learn the basics of the gibberish they spoke so fluently. With that, I came to understand that I had been chosen out of the many people like me because I was of a lighter shade than the rest. I also realized that even though I hated every thing I was put through, it could have been entirely worse. I was very fortunate, unlike the other people like me who were then after forced to work in the fields. I am almost positive that they resented me for what they had become, which I later learned as the term slaves.

It has now been close to 30 years since then. My master, a term I learned that I could not afford not to say, kept me through her years. I found that she had indeed been about 10 years older then me, even thought she had appeared young, she was now about 53 years old. At this moment, I am 42 years old. As my master comes to her ends, I hoped to die soon after or at least not long before, for I am sure that my chance to be so lucky and receive such a benevolent master will not come again. So now, you know my story, the story of the little girl from Zenith who was taken to America, the story of Fateliny.


End file.
